October 2009

October is a big month for the Earth and space sciences, as this newsletter will demonstrate! There are a number of events happening this month, including Earth Science Week (October 11-17), Women in the Geosciences Day (October 15), the Great World Wide Star Count (October 9-23), and Project Budburst's Fall push for foliage observations. In addition to these geoscience-focused events, the first 15 days of October are the last half of National Hispanic Heritage month - an opportunity to highlight the accomplishments of Hispanics in the geosciences.

In addition to these events, this newsletter highlights a new content resource on Windows to the Universe - a new section on isotopes, radioactive decay, and half-life, supported by new pages on atomic mass and atomic number. I'd also like to remind everyone of our newly updated and expanded section on Earth's atmosphere, with added detail on the structure of the atmosphere and weather. We are continuing to expand this section, and will be adding material on atmospheric chemistry and composition soon.

As usual, we will have a strong presence at fall NSTA conferences - see below for the details on our sessions. I hope to see you there! Note also the events planned by the National Earth Science Teachers Association at all three conferences.

The last half of the newsletter includes many opportunities offered by partner organizations seeking to support Earth and space science teachers and students. Please be sure to check this section, as some of these exciting opportunities have deadlines.

Finally, I'd like to thank everyone that responded to the survey posted last month on the website. We received a total of 688 responses in just six days - very impressive! The results showed that 70% of respondents were teachers (probably due, in part, to the fact that we let you know about the survey with a special email, which many of you responded to), with 27% of teachers teaching at the middle school level and 35% teaching at the high school level. 28% of respondents said that they came directly to the site, because they knew about it already, 29% were referred by a search engine, and 27% were referred from a link on another site. 68% of respondents said they use the site to learn about the Earth and space sciences, and 63% said they use it to access materials for their classrooms. 6% of respondents indicated that they use the site daily, 31% weekly, and 30% monthly. There was a lot of interest in new services and resources from Windows to the Universe! For example, 43% of respondents were interested in learning about community resources, 38% said they would like to take advantage of professional development opportunities, and 30% said they would like to be able to purchase a Teacher's Guide to the site, as well as learn about exemplary products associated with our content. This feedback is exceptionally useful to us now, and I anticipate coming back to you for more, soon. Thanks SO much!

In the coming months, we'll add or update pages on several related topics, including carbon-14 and radiocarbon dating, the atom and its nucleus, the chemical elements, and the particles that make up atoms (protons, neutrons, and electrons). Stay tuned!

Imagine searching for rock and mineral samples in remote areas dressed in a long skirt and broad, fancy hat. Towards the end of the Victorian era when Florence Bascom began her career as a geologist, that was what she wore in the field. She was hired by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1896, the first woman on the staff, after completing her Ph.D. in geology at Johns Hopkins University, the first woman to do so.

Florence Bascom’s career was full of firsts. At the time very few women were allowed to earn advanced degrees in any field. But today women can be found in every corner of the geosciences – from atmospheric science to volcanology. To celebrate this, the Association for Women Geoscientists (AWG) and the American Geological Institute (AGI) have created Women in the Geosciences Day as a part of Earth Science Week. Celebrate on October 15, spread awareness about women who do geoscience research, and energize girls to consider geoscience as a career. Who knows, a modern-day Florence Bascom may be sitting in your class!

Daylight Saving Time (DST) ends on November 1st this year in most of the U.S. Don't forget to turn your clocks one hour back. Daylight Saving Time (or Summer Time as it is called in many countries) is a way of getting more light out of the day by advancing clocks by one hour during the summer.

Ancient civilizations had to adjusted daily schedules to the sun more flexibly than we do. Romans
divided daylight into 12 equal hours, so the length of each hour was longer during summer. In 1784, Benjamin Franklin, then an American envoy to France, anonymously published a satirical letter suggesting that Parisians economize on candles by rising earlier to use morning sunlight.
The New Zealand entomologist George Vernon Hudson first proposed modern DST in 1895. English builder William Willett independently conceived DST in 1905 when he noticed during the early summer morning ride that many people were still sleeping. He became an advocate of DST but didn't live to see it adopted.
Many European countries started to switch their clocks in 1916, in an effort to conserve fuel during World War I. The United States adopted DST in
1918, but it was inconsistent till 1966, when President Johnson signed The Uniform Time Act.

Different nations start and end DST at different dates. In the Southern hemisphere beginning and
ending dates are reversed. Some nations shift time year-round, and many do not observe DST at all. Often different areas of one country have different time shifts.

Just a few days ago, NASA announced that the Hubble Space Telescope is
back in operation after several months of upgrades, repairs, and
testing. Two new instruments, the Wide Field Camera 3 and the Cosmic
Origins Spectrograph, were installed during the STS-125 servicing
mission in May. Another four instruments were repaired and brought
back into operation. These changes will give the HST better
sensitivity, and will also allow it to complete observations much more
quickly than has been possible in the past, and all together they make
the space observatory significantly more powerful than it ever has been.

Also, don't forget about the Top Stars competition, NASA's contest to
identify the most innovative uses of Hubble Space Telescope images in
education. It's not too late to enter the competition, and if you
think you have an interesting use of HST images in your classroom,
check out the Top Stars site for information on how to enter.

You've probably heard a Full Moon in the autumn called a "Harvest Moon" or
a "Hunter's Moon". You may even realize that farmers can work late, after
sunset, by the light of the Full Harvest Moon; hence the name. But did you
know the Moon has ten other aliases, one for each month of the year? That the
names
of the
Full
Moon come from Native Americans, the Algonquian tribes of eastern and northern
North America? Learn more at "Full
Moon Names".

Will you be attending one of the NSTA regional conferences in Fall 2009? We will! We would love to see you at one of the following events. Our presentations and workshops cover timely science topics like climate change, space weather and Earth system science. We try to show as many hands-on activities as we can and we always provide handouts. Please join us!

Please join us next week for the third annual Windows to the Universe Great World Wide Star Count. This IYA Cornerstone Project encourages everyone to go outside, look skyward after dark, count the stars they see in certain constellations, and report what they see online.

Star Count is designed to raise awareness about light pollution in the night sky and encourage learning in astronomy. All the information needed to participate is available on the Star Count Web site. Participation involves use of a simple protocol and an easy-to-use data entry form. Activity guides are available for download in 8 languages. At the conclusion of the event a map will be generated highlighting the results of this exciting citizen science campaign.

Mark your calendars and plan on joining thousands of other students, families, and citizen scientists counting stars this month. The Great World Wide Star Count will be held from October 9 - 23, 2009.

Celebrate Fall with Project BudBurst! Don’t let our name fool you – we are interested in all plant observations throughout the year. Now is a great time to get outside and make observations of seeds ripening or leaf color change or leaf drop. You can ‘jump’ in to Project BudBurst at any time during the year. So, you don’t have to wait for spring to participate in this national climate change field campaign. Help us reach our goal of 5,000 observations of fall phenophase observations in 2009. Climate change scientists are very interested in the observations you and your students are making – we need your help!. All information necessary to participate can be found at www.budburst.org. At this time, participation in Project BudBurst is limited to the United States.

During this 30 day period, the focal point of many
classroom activities and discussions across the United States center on the Hispanic culture. Do consider teaching about the contributions of
Hispanic Americans during this month and at any point during the year.
Why teach about any heritage? What does Science education have to do with cultures?
Through
myths, stories and art, we can clearly teach about the contributions that other cultures have made to science and help to build the self-esteem and the pride of those who identify themselves with a specific heritage or culture.

It is essential that all students learn to understand and appreciate the ethnic diversity that is found in our country. With regards to Hispanic Americans, this community traces its roots to the cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Americas; including the Arawaks (Puerto Rico), the Aztecs (Mexico), the Incas (South America), the Mayans (Central America), and the Tainos (Cuba, Puerto Rico). Still others trace their roots to the Spanish explorers, who in the 1400's set out to find an easier and less costly way to trade with the Indies. Visit the U.S. Census Bureau's page on Hispanic Heritage Month to learn the history of this important celebration as well as many interesting facts about the U.S. Hispanic population.

I often use the Par 5 activity to visually demonstrate greatness of diversity, as demonstrated by the diversity of types of water found in estuaries!

There are no boundaries in the real Planet Earth. Rivers flow unimpeded across the swaths of continents. The persistent tides the pulse of the sea do not discriminate; they push against all the varied shores on Earth. - Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Teacher Submissions

Announcements from Partners

Are you back in the classroom, looking for resources and support to help you bring the best to your students? Are you concerned about the state of Earth and space science education today? Now is the time to join the National Earth Science Teachers Association! Membership benefits are many and include receiving The Earth Scientist (a quarterly journal), full voting privileges, access to members-only areas of the NESTA web site and the monthly e-mail newsletter that shares new resources, opportunities, alerts, and upcoming events. There are also many special NESTA events at professional meetings. Plug into this supportive network. Cost is low! Join today!

Online Professional Development Workshop for Educators of All Grade Levels

Why Do We Explore?
October 5 - 16, 2009
in partnership with the College of Exploration

Join NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration and Research for the second workshop
in a series of educator professional development opportunities focused
around NOAA's new ship and America's Ship for Ocean Exploration, the
Okeanos Explorer. This workshop will introduce the new Okeanos Explorer Education Materials Collection built around the themes: Why Do We Explore?,
How Do We Explore? and What Do We Expect to Find?
Scientific presenters and education facilitators will work with participants
to delve into the benefits of ocean exploration targeting climate change,
energy, human health and ocean health. Interact with ocean explorers,
converse and share classroom applications with other educators, and find a
wealth of multimedia resources. We will introduce the first in a series of
Leader's Guides for Classroom Explorers entitled Why Do We Explore?, with
its companion Initial Inquiry Lesson, To Boldly Go., as well as additional
lesson plans and other resources.

The workshop is free for all participants and will be available 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week. Educators will have the option to receive graduate
credit (fee for the credit) or obtain a certificate of completion.

From a tiny insect to a huge blue whale, all animals have a place they call home. Their home -- called a habitat -- provides them with the food, water and shelter they need to survive.

An art contest for grades 2-4 challenges young scientists and artists to become wildlife investigators by exploring habitats, small and large, in their backyard or around the world, and then draw a picture showing what they learned. Artwork might focus on one animal or many, from an area as small as a single habitat or large as a biome.

"Habitat: Imagine That!" is the 14th annual art contest held by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) in Arlington, Va. The contest supports national education standards for grades K-4.

The first-, second- and third-place artists will receive $100, $75 and $50 Visa gift cards, respectively, framed color certificates, and their artwork will be showcased on IGES's Web site. For all entrants, certificates of participation will be available online as PDF files for teachers or parents to download and print.

Entries are due Oct. 26, 2009.

For more information, including detailed contest instructions, information for teachers and parents, a list of educational resources, and to view artwork of past winners, please visit:
www.strategies.org/artcontest

If you’d like to attend an Atlas workshop but can’t make it in October, check the link above for Project 2061’s most up-to-date information about its 2010 workshop lineup.

Project 2061's electronic newsletter, Project 2061 Connections, shares its work with the science, mathematics, and technology education community. Each issue offers an in-depth look at the project’s current research, what we are learning, and how its findings, tools, and resources can be applied to your own efforts to advance science literacy. Here's the latest issue. Or sign up to receive your own free copy!

As an educator, you know that college is a dream for many minority students. But sometimes a little help is needed to make higher education a reality. To help make these dreams come true, and in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, PepsiCo is partnering with the Hispanic College Fund (HCF) to promote higher education among Hispanic students.

Students can also use the website to apply for a special, merit-based scholarship. PepsiCo is offering 30 scholarships to assist with undergraduate and graduate studies, including five scholarships worth $4,000 each, and 25 scholarships worth $500 each. Recipients will be selected by the HCF.

The website launches on September 14, 2009, and applicants must submit paperwork by March 1, 2010, for consideration. Evaluation, selection, notification and student acknowledgement of award will take place from March 2 to April 30. All scholarships will be awarded in September 2010.

The website also features a daily trivia question about Hispanic heritage from September 14 to October 18, 2009. Participants will be entered in daily and weekly sweepstakes for fantastic prizes, including notebook laptops.

Since 1971, EPA has sponsored the President's Environmental Youth Awards
(PEYA). The program recognizes young people across America for projects that demonstrate their commitment to the environment. Young people in
all 50 states and the U.S. territories are invited to participate in the
program.

Projects submitted in the past have covered a wide range of subject
areas including recycling programs in schools and communities;
construction of nature preserves; major tree planting programs; videos,
skits, and newsletters created by students that focused on environmental
issues; and environmental science projects. To be eligible to compete, a
student or students, sponsored by an adult, must submit to their local
EPA regional office evidence of a completed project as defined in the
PEYA application, as well as a completed application.

EPA is excited to announce the launch of the new State Climate and Energy Partner Network. The network will help state energy, environmental, and utility staff understand and explore climate change and clean energy policy and program options. It provides up-to-date information about state activities and fosters communication among state decision makers on climate and energy issues and opportunities.

In the partner network, you can:
Receive EPA's weekly summary of state climate and energy policy news.
Participate in the network listserv by posing questions to colleagues and sharing information about initiatives and activities your state has undertaken.
Provide recommendations for topics and speakers for EPA's monthly State Climate and Energy Technical Forum Webcasts.

The partner network is open to staff from any state interested in:
Advancing clean energy opportunities.
Developing climate change mitigation policies and programs.
Looking to understand and describe the benefits of climate actions.
Seeking up-to-date information on what other states are doing.

Facing the Future, in collaboration with the Snow Leopard Trust, has just released Engaging Students in Conservation: Protecting the Endangered Snow Leopard, an interdisciplinary 1-2 week unit that includes five dynamic lessons and culminates with a service learning project. The unit is designed for 5-8th grade students in science and social studies. Though the lessons are designed as a comprehensive unit, each lesson can stand alone.

Engaging Students in Conservation: Protecting the Endangered Snow Leopard includes:
Five hands-on lessons
An introduction to snow leopards and their ecosystem
An exploration of the human-wildlife conflicts that exist where people and snow leopards overlap
Opportunities to develop 21st century skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, and global perspective
An examination of community-based conservation
A service learning project related to the protection of snow leopards in Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan

These lessons were developed and piloted by teachers and conservation experts including the Snow Leopard Trust, the world’s leading authority on the study and protection of the endangered snow leopard.

“The students were actively engaged in all of the lessons presented and really took on the roles and emotions of the activities.”
–Science Teacher

“I used different parts of each lesson with each class’ ability. The many choices of activities allows for differentiation over a large expanse of abilities.”
–Science Teacher

The Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship is a paid fellowship for K-12 math, science, and technology teachers. Einstein Fellows spend a school year in Washington, DC serving in a federal agency or on Capitol Hill. To be considered for an Einstein Fellowship for the 2010-2011 school year, apply and submit three letters of recommendation online by January 13, 2010.